


The Troublesome Genius

by ohayohimawari



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Angry Temari, Awkward Ninjas, Clever Tonton, Confused Nara Shikamaru, Domestic Ninjas, Eccentric Hatake Kakashi, Family, Family Issues, Fatherhood, Gen, Humor, Knucklehead Ninjas, Rokudaime Hatake Kakashi, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 04:32:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18189818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohayohimawari/pseuds/ohayohimawari
Summary: Shikamaru Nara maneuvers his way through the troublesome aspects of being a husband, father, and assistant to the Rokudaime.





	The Troublesome Genius

**Author's Note:**

> This short story was written in honor of reaching 100 followers on Tumblr.  
> I do not own these characters; I had a wonderful time exploring them.

“Come in.”

Shikamaru looked up from his task at the unexpected knock on the door to the Hokage’s office. The Rokudaime, however, continued to address the stack of paperwork in front of him. “You can add this one to the ‘Un-fun’ file,” he said as he handed the top sheet to his assistant.

“Good afternoon.” Sai’s polite monotone greeted them as he quietly closed the office door behind him.

“Hey, Sai. What brings you here?” Shikamaru lifted Tonton off a tall stack of papers to add another to it. He returned his gaze to their visitor and watched him set a large, earthenware pot on the Hokage’s desk.

“Ino asked me to bring this for your and Shikadai’s dinner this evening.” Sai finished with a smile that was more genuine than he’d been capable of in the past.

“Un-fun.” Kakashi handed another piece of paper to his assistant, and Shikamaru added it to the towering stack. “You have the whole village cooking for you this week Shikamaru,” the Rokudaime continued. “I’m jealous. When does Temari return?”

“The day after tomorrow. Shikadai and I should probably start cleaning the house up tonight.” Shikamaru chuckled to himself, thinking of the lazy week he and his young son had been enjoying in his wife’s absence.

“It’s been slow this week, you can take a half-day tomorrow and have one more evening to be kings of your castle. Ooh here's one for the ‘Fun’ file.” Kakashi handed the piece of paper he’d briefly checked to his assistant as he spoke.

“What’re you doing?” Sai asked as Shikamaru added the piece of paper he’d been given to the smallest stack upon the Hokage’s desk.

“Filing.” Shikamaru offered the succinct explanation as Sai moved the pot he’d brought further away from the growing piles of ‘organized’ tasks. Nara then returned his attention to the Rokudaime, “I appreciate that Kakashi, but are you sure? The ‘Un-fun’ stack is getting out of hand again.”

“And here’s another one to add to that file, but don’t worry, I’ll get around to it.” Kakashi waved his hand in a dismissive gesture once Shikamaru had relieved it of the ‘Un-fun’ document. “It’ll probably take you the whole afternoon to return everyone’s dishes to them. Besides, what’s the point of having fought so hard for this era of peace if families like yours don’t enjoy it?”

“Oink, oink!” Tonton added her two cents to the conversation.

“Well said, my dear.” Kakashi ceased reading to pat the head of the unofficial mascot of his office. Then he turned to his assistant again, “How’ve you two spent the last week with your house to yourselves?”

“In our underwear, mostly.” Shikamaru laughed, and even Sai joined him, understanding the joy of sharing such simple freedom with his own son whenever Ino left for a ‘Ladies Weekend.’

“Also, _not_ doing the dishes,” Shikamaru smirked. His grin grew wider when he softly added, “I’ve started to teach him how to play shogi.”

“Ah, now that’s time well spent.” The Rokudaime displayed his smile through closed and creased eyes.

Eyes that flew open in the next moment when a woman yelled from the other side of his closed office door. “ ** _Where is he?!?!_** ”

Shikamaru recognized that shriek, and before the door to the Hokage’s office was flung open, had just enough time to utter, “Don’t leave me.”

Temari stood in the doorway, her eyes quickly scanning the occupants of the Hokage’s office until they landed on Shikamaru and stayed there. The three men watched as a dangerous calm visibly settled over her face.

“You’re back early,” Shikamaru choked out, in what he hoped was a cheerful greeting.

Temari’s eyes narrowed in reply.

“How was your trip?” He attempted again.

“Shut up.” Temari folded her arms across her chest. “Please excuse my intrusion Hokage-sama, but I need to speak to your genius assistant about his genius son.”

“I was about to leave anyway,” Sai offered.

Shikamaru knew that Sai would be the first to betray him and was prepared for it. “Yes, to deliver that message for me, thank you. I’ve almost finished drafting it.” He grabbed the nearest piece of paper and quickly scribbled his plea where Sai could see him,

_Find Shikadai-I don’t care how-tell him Mom’s home early, and he needs to wash all the dirty dishes. Now. Tell him I said to take out the trash too. Hurry._

Sai accepted the note and his mission with a nod. He took a step towards the door where Temari still stood, second-guessed himself, and chose to exit the Hokage’s office via the window instead.

Temari aimed her gaze at the Rokudaime next. “It’s his office, you can’t expect him to leave,” Shikamaru started.

However, Kakashi was already standing and gathered Tonton into his arms. “I think it would be best if I did.” He looked at Temari and continued, “Only for a moment though, it’s been a hectic week for us. In fact,” he turned to Shikamaru, “I may have to ask your husband to work this weekend to help me catch up, depending upon your situation of course,” he finished with a wink to his assistant before turning to exit.

“O-oink?” Tonton looked up at the Rokudaime as he carried her to the door with him.

“Exactly. How do you always know just what to say?” Kakashi replied to the pig as he walked around Temari and closed the door behind him, leaving the Naras to themselves.

Shikamaru stood still, carefully observing his wife. His previous attempts to get to the root of the problem had proven unsuccessful. He stuffed one hand into his pocket, found the lighter that had belonged to his sensei, and ran his thumb over it as his mind thought through the various possibilities for her foul mood.

_‘Had she been home and found the mess? Maybe. She doesn’t look like she’s been home though, she’s still carrying her fan and her bag… Birthday? Anniversary? No, she wouldn’t have gone to Suna for a visit if that was the case. She ended her trip early and rushed back here-shit! Did Kankuro tell her about the stag party? No, no she said she needed to talk about my genius son-not_ our _son,_ my _son, and she called me a genius too, so that means…’_

“What’d he do?” He asked aloud.

“Pulled the fire alarm at The Little Leaves Kindergarten Ninja Academy!”

Shikamaru felt his jaw drop at Temari’s exclamation. His eyes drifted to the window behind her in time to see Shikadai’s worried and tear-streaked face fly past on one of Sai’s ink birds in the direction of the Nara home.

His eyes quickly returned to Temari’s. “When?”

“This morning, while the kids were lined up to go outside for first recess. The school called me at the emergency telephone number listed on my parent contact card. I was so embarrassed taking that call, in front of everyone in the Kazekage’s office, Shikamaru!” Temari smacked her hand down on the Hokage’s desk in a show of her frustration. “I told them to call you, but the secretary said she couldn’t. Do you know why?”

Shikamaru gulped, as he suddenly remembered the forgotten, blank parent contact card sitting in his desk drawer at home.

Temari brought her hands up to her head and massaged her temples with her fingers. “I’m upset that this interrupted my visit with my brothers, I’m exhausted from rushing here by train, and I’m sick of being the ‘mean parent,’ Shikamaru.” She let her arms fall to her sides, exposing her face which was flushed from stress and emotion.

“Look, I understand that I’m not allowed in your and Shikadai’s boys-only club and I know that you two laugh at how strict I can be. However, I’d really appreciate it if you could see your way to completing more of the ‘troublesome’ tasks of parenthood so I could be part of the joke instead of just the butt of it.”

Shikamaru stood silent, his thumb running over the inherited lighter in his pocket. He began to realize how his behavior as a father had been inherited as well, and he considered the impact it had on the woman he’d asked to be his partner. He could only think of one maneuver to resolve the situation.

“You’re correct, and I’m sorry Temari.”

It appeared his wife hadn’t expected him to understand and apologize so readily and it almost pained him to see it. But she relaxed and replied in the gentle voice she reserved just for him. “Thank you, Shikamaru.”

He returned her soft smile with a sheepish one of his own. Then he sighed and ran a hand down his face, tugging a little at his goatee. “Why did he pull the fire alarm, though? I can’t imagine Shikadai doing such a stupid prank, it’s not like him at all.”

Temari chuckled, and it was Shikamaru’s turn to be surprised at his spouse’s reaction. “What’s so funny?”

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t funny to me at the time, even though the teacher was laughing when he told me.” Temari quieted her laughter long enough to explain, “Apparently, your genius son is learning to read faster and better than we thought. He pulled the fire alarm because the words, ‘please pull’ are stamped right on it.”

Shikamaru groaned, and Temari laughed louder at his reaction. “His teacher explained to me that it happens often enough that a request was sent to the Hokage’s office to have the alarms replaced.”

“It’s filed,” came the muffled voice of the eavesdropping Rokudaime from the other side of his office door.

Shikamaru looked at the leaning tower of ‘Un-fun’ paperwork and groaned again.

“Regardless of the reason, he still had to be punished and served detention after school today,” Temari finished relating Shikadai’s unfortunate day to his father as she opened the office door so Kakashi could reenter.

The Rokudaime still held Tonton while he sat in the chair at his desk again. Shikamaru had begun sifting through the tallest stack of documents, looking for a request from The Little Leaves Kindergarten Ninja Academy. “I think we need to rethink our filing system, Hokage-sama.”

“Yeah,” Kakashi reluctantly agreed, setting Tonton down on his desk.

“Well, I’d better go collect our genius son from school.” Temari sighed. “His detention ended fifteen minutes ago, but I had to cool off before I could pick him up. I’m sure he’s waiting for me now and dreading my reaction.”

Shikamaru smiled when Temari used the word ‘our’ to describe their son again, but then he recalled the image of Shikadai flying past the windows, as well as his instruction to clean up the evidence of the lazy week they’d had while his wife was away. “Wait—” his mind raced to cover up one last secret of the boys-only club, “as you say, he’s a genius. Shikadai will know to head home by now, and I’m sure he’s had enough trouble for one day. You must be tired after your unexpected trip back. Why don’t I take you out for tea and then we can pick dinner up on our way home?”

“I thought you two were having a ‘hectic week’?”

“The Rokudaime assured me he didn’t need me to get through the ‘Un-fun file’ himself,” Shikamaru quickly and subtly appealed to Kakashi with his eyes. The Rokudaime assented with a slight nod of his head.

“The what file?” Temari turned back to face the Hokage and his assistant.

“Besides, what’s the point of having fought so hard for this era of peace if families like ours don’t enjoy it?” Shikamaru recycled Kakashi’s words as he set aside his work in favor of leaving with his wife instead.

“Oink, oink,” Tonton approved.

“Oink, oink,” Kakashi concurred and waved goodbye to the departing couple.

 

** The End **


End file.
